Garmin-Sharp built around Ryder Hesjedal for Giro d’Italia defence

Garmin-Sharp has officially announced the list of riders that will defend Ryder Hesjedal’s 2012 title at the Giro d’Italia, which starts in Naples on Saturday, May 4th. The Canadian became the first from his country to win a Grand Tour, with a narrow, final day victory over Spaniard Joaquim Rodríguez, and only the second from North America after Andy Hampsten in 1988.

“Winning the Giro d’Italia in 2012 was a dream come true and it will be a true honour to pin on the Number 1 bib on Saturday,” said Hesjedal. “My season has been built around the Giro again this year with the goal of defending my title and the whole team is coming into it very focused and extremely motivated. I want to do my best to honour the race, to honour the Number 1 bib, and take it from there, day by day. I know we have a great team to be able to do that, and we will work hard, every day, with our goal in mind.”

To defend Hesjedal’s title Garmin-Sharp has put together a strong team of climbers and rouleurs to take on the carious challenges of the Giro route. This team includes Lithuanian Ramunas Navardauskas, who held the Maglia Rosa for two days during last year’s race and Briton David Millar, who wore pink in 2011 and became a father for the second time today after the birth of son Harvey.

“Our team is built around our leader and defending champion, Ryder, and our goal is to do our best race and defend his title,” said directeur sportif Charly Wegelius. “We have put together a strong and well-balanced roster, with a focus on climbers to support Ryder in the mountains. The team is very motivated for what we know will be a grueling but beautiful race and we look forward to Saturday’s start.”

The rest of the Garmin-Sharp team is made up a mix of youth and experience, with young climbers Nathan Haas and Peter Stetina alongside Tom Danielson, Thomas Dekker, Robbie Hunter and Christian Vande Velde.

“This is a great mix of riders with a lot of depth and talent,” added Jonathan Vaughters, Slipstream Sports CEO. “Our focus is on defending Ryder’s title. We know there is a lot of hard racing ahead but the team will take it day by day and do our best race.”